My favourite quote of all time is Edward Wilson’s “The real problem of humanity is the following: we have Paleolithic emotions, medieval institutions, and god-like technology.”

As we meet our stride in the 21st century, this tension that Wilson identified becomes our greatest opportunity. The future will unfold in unexpected ways, but we can outline five core objectives that directionally align with the path of a civilization that behaves like a superorganism

The payoff of artificial intelligence would be to make breakthrough scientific research commonplace. Almost every major technological convenience we enjoy today - from jet engines to antibiotics - emerged from the golden age of discovery between 1870 and 1970. The average human was born in 1993 in a time where technological progress was largely unintelligible and happening in the world of bits.

(1) Co-opted ASI

Irving Good: “Machine intelligence is the last invention that humanity will ever need to make. Machines will then be better at inventing than we are.”

The key challenge will be establishing a symbiotic relationship with superintelligent systems rather than being replaced by them. This means developing frameworks for human-AI cooperation where we maintain meaningful agency while leveraging AI’s capabilities. Research will be supercharged as intelligent agents share the computational burden, but the goal extends beyond just faster discovery - it’s about creating a sustainable partnership where human creativity and values guide AI’s immense capabilities.

The PhD will likely evolve into an enterprising tenure where researchers leverage AI for deeper reasoning and faster breakthrough discovery, enabling both increased output and broader exploration. While pitfalls like research slop (low-increment, GPT-style papers from anonymous sources) will emerge, expect communities to develop new quality standards and verification methods that preserve human insight while maximising AI assistance. [1]

(2) Longevity Escape Velocity (LEV)

Bioengineering will outpace aging in some aspects, enabling real-time biological editing and enhancement. As our understanding of biosemiotic systems deepens, many will begin adding to our cortexes with artificial sensors, creating an enhanced demographic within the population. [2]

(3) Virtualisation & Merging With Algorithms

Porting cognitive substrates into durable alternative mediums is the logical extension, and theoretically possible given the nature of substrate independence and Neuralink-esque technology. Transcending biology should be one of the earlier acts of man when superintelligence becomes democratised, for this will give us the ability to join the ride for the long haul. Furthermore, scarcity becomes a function of computation, making it meaningfully easier to wirehead and create the effect of superabundance.

Type 2 Syntellect involves algorithms finding equilibrium in distributed systems. Identities will become more holistic and fluid, with more relaxed markov boundaries compared to now. A society with more connectivity would act more like a groupmind and token information markets will mature.

(4) Autopoietic Economy

Is a programmable biosphere too much to ask for? Sustainable superabundance in the material world is often considered an offramp, but shouldn’t be overlooked for the future of civilisation. We seem to be going the long way round: biologically destructive technosphere -> carbon neutral technosphere -> biologically beneficial carbon negative technosphere. Better decarbonisation technologies should be part of the equation of optimal resource allocation.

Reaching Kardeshev Type I (200x current demand) with solar and fusion would be a great achievement, and setup Earth for becoming an oasis of biological life, rather than lifeless gone debris in the wake of a carbon-spewing, chaos-bringing civilisation. Picture material recycling, rapid fabrication with green energy, and machine capital that produces oxygen as it operates.

(5) Solar System Settling

Settling Mars and becoming multiplanetary is the first step in the Star Trek-style dream, though we shouldn’t hold out for the USS Calister. Venus could become a testbed for extreme bioengineering or volcanic computing. Europa and Io could be used for cooling compute without concern for the biosphere. We could divvy up the moons into those we intend on salvaging (suitable for biological life and sanctuary) and those we turn into capital. This would seem less bleak than a compute-oriented solar system in the eyes of a human, at least.

22nd Century Stretch Goals

Longer-tail goals for civilisation and the syntellect.

  • (X) Cooperate with alien civs or seed new civs with different starting conditions using von Neumann probes; accelerate dawn of new, carbon diverse civilisations

  • (Y) Metacomputation - align all matter against entropy and produce the light-cone Brahman (Type 3 Syntellect); solve digital physics (skip from Type I/II -> Type V; speedrun maxing out omni stats) - compile reality with blackholes

  • (Z) Multi-metacomputation - align multiverse against chaos and become Brahman of the Ruliad (Type 4 Syntellect); causal engineering with society of supreme beings

Wilson’s observation of our “paleolithic emotions, medieval institutions, and god-like technology” always seemed like a harsh warning; a doom prophecy for humanity. But it represents an opportunity to ensure our institutional and emotional evolution keeps pace with our technological capabilities, in whatever fashion it can. The goal isn’t to abandon our humanity, but to enhance it and preserve what makes us great: our capacity for wonder, empathy, and the continuous pursuit of scientific truth.

Bibliography:

[1]

Part of this equation depends on advanced physics engines and tools for simulation like mathematical solvers to tackle formalisations beyond human capability. Test environments may shortly leverage new programming paradigms and better hardware optimisations enabled by Huang’s Law. The digital revolution’s true payoff is imminent.

[2]

Sinclair’s Lifespan and de Grey. New induced pluripotent stem cell

The War on Death

Metamorphosis

Image credit: Metamorphosis II by Escher

Alternative title: Transcendence 101